Tiger Population Increases for First Time in 100 Years

Tigers are making a global comeback, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

In a post on its website on Sunday, the WWF said the number of wild tigers in the world has increased from about 3,200 in 2010 to 3,890 this year. And while that may not seem like much, it’s the first time that number has increased at all in 100 years.

“For the first time after decades of constant decline, tiger numbers are on the rise,” announced Marco Lambertini, director general of WWF International. “This offers us great hope and shows that we can save species and their habitats when governments, local communities and conservationists work together.”

Even so, tigers are in a much worse place as a species than they were at the beginning of the last century. There were believed to be about 100,000 tigers in the world in 1900. Poaching and deforestation led their numbers to dwindle.

Representatives from 13 countries that are home to wild tigers are meeting in New Delhi this week. Their goal is ambitious: to double the world’s tiger population by 2022. That may be a long shot, but if the news from the WWF is any indication, it may not be impossible.